On his way to a meeting of regional leaders at the East Asia Summit Prime Minister John Key will pause in Vietnam's largest city to pitch the trade opportunities associated with the 2011 Rugby World Cup.The Prime Minister departs for the summit in the Vie
On his way to a meeting of regional leaders at the East Asia Summit Prime Minister John Key will pause in Vietnam's largest city to pitch the trade opportunities associated with the 2011 Rugby World Cup.
The Prime Minister departs for the summit in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi today but on the way he will stop off in Ho Chi Minh City, the commercial hub of the country and home to many New Zealand businesses.
Mr Key will meet local government leaders and attend events for a number of New Zealand businesses and will use a Rugby World Cup function tomorrowto showcase New Zealand.
Graham Sims, New Zealand's Trade Commissioner in Vietnam, said the rugby World Cup 2011 was a huge opportunity for New Zealand.
The former All Black said the World Cup would be bigger than just the rugby.
"I think that's the way that we need to look at this...we punch way above our weight in many of our industries but one of the things that we need to do more of is to promote ourselves in those industries."
The Vietnamese are keen on sport. The city ground to a halt when a game was televised during the recent soccer World Cup.
".. they'd be out on the streets in their little plastic chairs huddled around a TV watching it".
The two things Vietnamese people were most likely to bring up when New Zealand was mentioned was the kiwi and the All Blacks, Mr Sims said.
Tomorrow's function would tell local people about business activities during the World Cup and encourage them to get to New Zealand and participate, Mr Sims said.
"A number of the big Vietnamese businesses operate internationally and I see it as another way to showcase our expertise in business in New Zealand centred around this biggest sporting event in 2011."
Mr Sims told NZPA there were also big opportunities for New Zealand businesses in Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh City was the commercial centre.
"This is where commerce is conducted, the Government sits up in Hanoi," he said.
More than 40 percent of New Zealand's exports to Vietnam were dairy and timber. Two-way trade between the countries is a little over $500m.
Mr Sims said with 60 percent of the Vietnamese population under 35-years-old and a growing number of babies there was a lot of demand for dairy and formulated products.
Vietnam also has a strong furniture making business; importing New Zealand timber and exporting the finished product to the United States and Europe.
Other opportunities existed in infrastructure development, clean technologies and the aviation industry, he said.
Mr Key was due to arrive in Ho Chi Minh City at 10pm New Zealand time (today).
